Proposal for prataculture development in the Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Belt

Prataculture (grassland agriculture, pastoral agriculture) plays an irreplaceable role in ecological and food security worldwide and is one of the most important marks of agricultural modernization. The Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Belt shares similar natural and social characteristics: The natural environment is harsh and fragile, natural disasters are frequent, and it is located in developing regions. It serves as a settlement area for ethnic minority and an union base of the cummunity for the Chinese nation. This region has spontaneously developed a largely agricultural system supported by prataculture for over a thousand years, historically forming an agropastoral coupling system with the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and eastern cropping areas. This region has a similar level of socioeconomic development, possesses tremendous potential, and can unleash greater potential for systemic coupling and development, and together embrace the historical opportunities of the new era of ecological civilization only through collaborative efforts in the development of the prataculture. Therefore, the development of the prataculture in the Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Belt is directly related to ecological protection and high-quality development of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and the middle and lower plains of China’s major rivers. Over the past four decades, each province and region in the Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Belt has consciously developed prataculture into a pillar industry based on its resource endowment. On this basis, the development of prataculture in the Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Belt aligns with national strategies, such as the rising of central China, ecological protection and restoration in the Yangtze River Valley, the ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Valley, China’s Western Development, “Three North” shelterbelt project, rural revitalization, and the “Silk Road Economic Belt”. These unified approches guarantee ecological and food security while implementing major national strategies. We analyzed the natural environment, social environment, and the path and potential of development according to the foundation and experience of long-term development of prataculture development in each province and region. We propose establishing the comprehensive system for breeding industry of prataculture and consummating or constructing the pratacultural ecosystem. By implementing the “Neighboring Projects” initiative, an infarm or interfarm grassland-livestock coupling system is developed at small spatial scale to efficiently transform local forage into high-quality livestock products. Through “Forage from cropping areas to pastoral areas” project, we aim to develop a multi-industry system that couples the Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Belt, the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, and the central-eastern regions, and establish national and provincial linkage mechanism in the Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Belt. This initiative will serve as a platform for integrating administration, research, industry, education, and the public in the construction of the prataculture belt, and build a more solid pratacultural platform for national food security, ecological protection, and the development of border regions by establishing two pratacultural belts domestically and internationally in the Circum-Qinghai-Xizang Belt.